Owen Building, Exmouth Campus, University of Plymouth - geograph

Rolle College was a teacher training college in

Exmouth Exmouth is a port town, civil parish and seaside resort, sited on the east bank of the mouth of the River Exe and southeast of Exeter. In 2011 it had a population of 34,432, making Exmouth the 5th most populous settlement in Devon. Histo ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, which formed the Exmouth campus of the

University of Plymouth The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

until its closure in 2009. The university moved its taught courses from the site to new facilities at its main Plymouth campus.

History

The college opened in 1946, and initially graduates were awarded a Certificate in Education by the University of Exeter. In 1988, Rolle College became part of Polytechnic South-West, and in 1990 was absorbed into Plymouth University. The last three Students' Union Presidents of Rolle College were Katie Shaw (05/06), Fiona House (06/07) and Michael Austin (07/08). The Exmouth campus was closed in 2008, when Plymouth University relocated the college, its 3000 students and 400 staff to their main campus in Plymouth. Rolle played a significant part in the life of Exmouth, both economically and socially. The decision to relocate the campus was controversial with past and present students, staff and the local community. Anti-closure demonstrations and campaigns lasted until the relocation. With the premises becoming vacant, and with Exmouth no longer being home to a community of students, a Community Benefit Company (Rolle Exmouth Limited, or REL) was set up in 2010 to find new uses for the site that would benefit the community. Plans were drawn up in conjunction with Plymouth University to retain part of the site for a mixture of uses including educational and vocational training, business incubation, and community facilities; the plans included disposal of a significant part of the site for housing development. Negotiations appeared to be proceeding well (though slowly), when Plymouth University suddenly announced, on 1 September 2016, that contracts had been exchanged with the Exeter Royal Academy for Deaf Education, under which the Academy would acquire the entire site and relocate there from its existing premises in Exeter. The Deaf Academy’s Chief Executive, Jonathan Farnhill, described his vision that the new site would "transform the lives of Deaf children and their families and ... be a place where Deaf and hearing people can come together

References

External links

* {{coord, 50, 36, 56, N, 3, 24, 21, W, type:edu_region:GB, display=title Teacher training colleges in the United Kingdom Educational institutions established in 1949 Educational institutions disestablished in 2009 University of Plymouth Exmouth 1949 establishments in England Defunct universities and colleges in England